


Friends in Low Places

by Siana



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alien Invasion, GoM are a squad, Kagami is a Triad, M/M, XCOM - freeform, military setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 02:34:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3192041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siana/pseuds/Siana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the universe of the XCOM: Enemy Unknown game. You don't need to have played the game to understand this fic.</p><p>Aliens have started an attack on Earth two years ago and humanity has barely managed to hold them off. Aomine is part of an XCOM strike team that has been sent to retrieve and alien artifact that has fallen into the hands of Chinese Triads. <br/>Things don't go as planned.</p><p>Or the one where Aomine purposedly destroys his rifle, Akashi can't be bothered to give a straight order, Kuroko picks the worst situations to play matchmaker, Kise gives out free grenades, Murasakibara leaves a snack trail through the better part of China, Midorima isn't nearly paid enough for this shit and Kagami gathers unwanted firsthand experience in alien hijacking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends in Low Places

It was supposed to be nothing more than a good old routine mission. Touch down in one of Beijing’s suburbs, rendezvous with the now ex-member of the Chinese Triads, confirm the target and head back to pick up. All to get their hands on an important alien artifact the man had filched from his organization in a sudden burst of moral consciousness.

Everything had gone smoothly enough at first. The man had awaited them at the rendezvous point, willing to leave his syndicate behind for the promise of protection. (Daiki had thought him a bit of douche for wearing an Italian suit _and_ sunglasses in the middle of the night, but whatever). They had just been able to confirm the alien artifact, when the aliens had sprung their trap on them.  

Daiki had expected a trap, all of them had, but of course the aliens wouldn’t be satisfied with their usual M.O., you know, sending the sensors in a frenzy before dropping in on them. No, they had jumped them literally out of nowhere. _Fucking invisibility_. The area had been clear, no alien activity, until there was. No visuals either, just incessant plasma fire from out of nowhere. As if seekers* hadn’t been bad enough.

Kise had taken a hit, straight to his chest and there had been a tense few seconds until Midorima, their medic, had given the all-clear. Kise’s body armor had absorbed most of the force, thank fucking god. It was a smoking mess now, but no one was complaining.

Daiki cowered under the broken window frame and tried to pinpoint the enemy’s location. They were in someone’s living room, abandoned from the looks of it, but these day that was nothing unusual.

His intercom crackled and Tetsu’s calm voice filled his ears. “Infrared doesn’t appear to work.” He was still outside somewhere, covering their backs with his plasma enhanced sniper rifle. Filched alien technology, just about the only reason they hadn’t gone under yet in this war.

 _Fucking aliens_ , Daiki thought, not for the first time.

A vase behind him exploded, causing a muffled curse from Kise. The coffee table followed suit moments later and, _damn they were closing in_. Daiki ducked down and slid along the wall until he was no longer under the window.

“We can’t stay here.” Daiki shouted, just as part of the wall gave way under unrelenting plasma fire. So far the only thing that did resist a plasma ray for longer than a few hits was alien armor plating. A rare resource if he’d ever seen any, thanks to some of the aliens’ fucking tendency to explode on death. And yeah, there was the fact they were constantly losing ground in this war, so it had been a while since they last got their hands on a ship.

“Tetsuya, can you pinpoint the origin of the weapon discharges?” Akashi asked. He was calm, even in the middle of the virtual storm they were in. Well, he wasn’t their leader for nothing.

“Yes,” was Tetsu’s reply. “Give me a moment.”

“We don’t-“ Daiki was cut off by the head dive he had to take to dodge the rest of the wall that was coming down on him.

“Aominecchi.” Kise was in the back, peeking in through the kitchen door, where he had taken cover with their target.

“What?” Daiki was pressed into the corner; there was not much space he had left to maneuver without entering the enemy’s fire zone.

“Take this.” Kise threw him his frag grenade, old-fashioned metal and explosives, cause apparently alien grenades were too precious to waste on assault classes like them. Daiki caught it close to his body – no way was he going to expose his arm now – and clutched it in his hand. He had used his own earlier to cover Kise and Midorima.

Akashi gave Murasakibara the order to ready his rocket launcher. _Good._ That meant they were going to get out of there soon. All they needed was Tetsu’s intel.

Midorima was busy radioing their situation to HQ. “I don’t know. Some sort of thermal and visual camouflage.” He was pressed against the wall on the other side of the window, only a matter of time until his side would give way under fire too.”I don’t know if we are facing a new specimen or merely adjusted technology. As it is, we can’t even _see_ them.” There was a beat of silence then, “Try something else.” Midorima snapped, hand gripped tightly around his plasma rifle.

“I have an approximate position.” Tetsu announced through intercom.

“Good, send the coordinates.” Akashi ordered. “The rest, prepare for departure.”

Daiki’s intercom beeped as the data was received. Daiki checked the map on his sleeve com extension. _Shit, they’re close_.

“We retreat to the backyard and regroup on the marked position.” Daiki’s intercom beeped again, this time highlighting the spot Akashi had marked as their rendezvous point. “Daiki, Shintarou cover fire. Atsushi launch.”

Daiki cursed under his breath and brought up his own plasma gun. He aimed in the direction where Tetsu’s intel had indicated the enemy’s position, hoping he wouldn’t just waste ammo. Something whistled through the air – Murasakibara’s rocket – and the night air was lit by the bright fire of the explosion. Daiki moved back along the wall, keeping an eye out, but the plasma fire had stopped for now. He pulled the pin from Kise’s grenade. Midorima ran past him and Daiki, counting in his head, launched the grenade. He didn’t wait to watch, before he turned around and followed the others. He reloaded his rifle while running.

Daiki’s radio crackled, just as he reached the back of the house, window already broken and secured. “We’ve scanned the area, but still can’t pick up the enemy’s signal.” Imayoshi’s smooth voice informed them from HQ.

“Good for you.” Daiki snapped back, before he could stop himself. He paused behind the window, pressed against the wall to check for anyone following after. Usually he would share point with Kise, as they wore the strongest armor, but since the rear was at most risk right now and Kise had to babysit their target, Daiki lagged behind to cover their retreat.

“Takao is working on it.” Imayoshi ignored his outburst. “Until then, try smoke grenades.”

“Smoke grenades?” Kise asked.

“Yes,” Imayoshi drawled, “The smoke might outline the aliens.” He sounded as though he was explaining something to a kid, which would be offensive, but Imayoshi _always_ sounded like that. One reason Daiki didn’t like him.

The others were already ahead, only Murasakibara’s broad shape was still visible, as he scaled the wall that surrounded the backyard. Thankfully, tech department had enhanced all their armor suits with a grappling hook just recently.

“Well, that’s as much as I can give you right now.” The line to HQ disconnected with a hiss and they were once again on their own. Daiki checked the map again, making sure he didn’t get lost as he made his way to the meeting point. So far things were quiet, but that didn’t mean anything when there were _fucking invisible aliens_.

“We can work with that.” Akashi said. “Shintarou, how many do you have?”

“One,” was the terse reply. Daiki could see the silhouettes of the others up ahead, grouped around an old fountain, covering the Triad man in their midst.

Daiki opened a connection on his intercom. “Tetsu, where are you?” Usually, there was little reason to worry about their sniper, but _invisible aliens_. They were dangerous enough visible as it was.

Daiki looked to the side, and there, right on time, Tetsu popped up with a very flat “here.”

“You could have picked my other side.” Daiki informed him with a smug smile. Tetsu just lifted his fist and Daiki indulged him, _duh_. Fist bumps were tradition after all. They’d been friends since middle school, lost contact in high school and then Tetsu had come through for him in the direst time of his life. Daiki would die for him.

“What now?” Midorima asked, adjusting his glasses. His nervousness showed, as it did with all of them. The enemy could literally be right next to them and they wouldn’t know. Well, Akashi probably would, he had some freaky senses, but yeah, Daiki wasn’t going to bank on that just yet.

Silence followed his words. Logically they were to escort their target to the rendezvous point, where the skyranger would pick them up and bring him back to HQ, but there was that thing with fucking invisible aliens. They had to get their hands on that technology as soon as possible, or else. (Daiki had no idea what else, except it would suck hardcore.)

“We can’t afford any one of these aliens to sneak on board of the skyranger.” Akashi stated.

 _Shit_. Daiki hadn’t even thought of that.

“What about…?” Kise gestured to the Chinese man in their midst.

“Kagami Taiga.” The man said with a hesitant shrug.

Admittedly, Daiki hadn’t properly seen the man’s face in the darkness, but _really?_ “You’re Japanese?”

“Well, yeah?” Kagami rubbed a hand on his neck. He had taken off the sunglasses somewhere between their meeting and now.

“How did you end up with the Triads?” Kise leaned forward to get a better look at Kagami’s face. Murasakibara had fewer qualms and shone his flashlight into Kagami’s face. Daiki caught a glance of the most impressive set of double eyebrows he had ever seen, before Akashi snapped at Murasakibara to turn off the light.

Kagami groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Long story.”

“I bet.” Daiki muttered under his breath. A Japanese – halfbreed even, from the looks of it – as a member of the Triads. And if the suit he was wearing and the fact he had gotten his hands on that artifact were anything to go by, he wasn’t just a low ranked member either. Today was just full of surprises.

“Anyway, I can fight.” Kagami shifted the case in his hands.

“This isn’t just some gang fights.” Midorima said with an exasperated sigh.

Even in the dark Daiki could see Kagami roll his eyes.

“I had combat training in the American army.”

“The story gets better and better.” Daiki shook his hand, because why the fuck not. Tetsu gave him a look that Daiki choose to wholeheartedly ignore. He _did_ have a type. Kagami just happened to fit it.

“We don’t have a weapon for you.” Tetsu had walked up closer to Kagami and inspected him, which made the man, who was a good head taller than Tetsu, squirm. Tetsu kind of had that effect. But Kagami’s reaction was probably cuter than it should be to Daiki’s eyes.

Daiki shook his head. _Now’s not the time_.

Kagami took a step backwards from Tetsu and pulled out a handgun from a shoulder holster.

“That’s cute.” Daiki smirked. Kagami shot him an annoyed glance.

“Take this.” Tetsu pulled his own laser enhanced pistol and held it out for Kagami.

“Kurokocchi, don’t you need that?” Kise’s face was pulled in a worried frown. Plasma weapons were highly effective in damage and precision, but they ran out of ammo way too fast. Half of Daiki’s gear were gas cartridges. Sometimes laser pistols were the only thing standing between sudden alien death and an empty plasma gun.

“You will have to cover for me then.” Tetsu said in a flat voice, not that it would have made any difference for Kise’s reaction. It was pretty much obvious to everyone that Kise had the biggest crush to ever walk the earth on Tetsu. Too bad for him someone else had already staked their claim, but that didn’t mean Tetsu was above abusing said crush for his own benefit. Tetsu sometimes was bastard enough to put them all to shame.

“I will, Kurokocchi.” Kise thankfully restricted his happiness to bouncing on his feet as opposed to the full body pounce he’d be doing in any other situation. Daiki just shook his head. They were supposed to be professionals, the best of the fucking best. And that was _him_ talking.

Kagami’s impressive eyebrows were pulled into yet another impressive frown. About now was the moment, when he had to regret his choice to trust them with his safety. Daiki grinned and slapped a hand on his shoulder. Kagami flinched.

“Don’t worry; we know what we’re doing.”

“I’m not so sure about some of us.” Midorima muttered under his breath. Murasakibara was snacking on a chocolate bar he shouldn’t even have on his person right now. _Yep, professionals_.

(Secretly Daiki was 100% convinced that it was Murasakibara’s trails of crumbs that led the aliens to them.)

Kagami just took the laser pistol from Tetsu and put it in his holster. “Thanks.” He said belatedly. Daiki thought the detected a faint quirking of Tetsu’s lips. He gave Tetsu a warning glare, which the bastard merrily ignored. He would pay him back in kind, but a) he wasn’t going to risk his life anytime soon by flirting with Akashi and b) well, there was no b).

“Prepare for combat. We’re moving out.”Akashi had been checking something on his com extension up until now, completely ignoring the ruckus his team was making. Akashi was an absolute bastard sometimes, but he was also mainly the reason they were still alive at large. He was the main reason Daiki was still alive after all.

Daiki had few illusions about how slim their chances were. This war had been an arms race ever since the first alien attack in Germany, and humanity just barely kept up with alien advancement.   By now, they had lost South America and parts of North America, Eurasia was a freaking hot zone and Africa was only safe due to the heavy presence of XCOM personnel on the central continent. How the Triads had gotten their hands on the artifact was a fucking mystery.

“What’s the plan?” Daiki asked. He checked his plasma cartridges, although he had counted them when he’d arrived at the meeting point. Force of habit at this point. One that had saved his life on more than one occasion.

“We meet up with Big Sky at this position.” Daiki’s com beeped right on cue. “Big Sky will touch down once we’re there, picking us up. That should minimize alien contact. Recovering the artifact has highest priority for now.” Thank fucking god. Ever since the alien’s had developed immunity to arc throwers* capturing live specimens had become a mortal risk instead of a nuisance.

“Can’t we just knock the aliens out?” Murasakibara mused through a mouthful of chocolate.

“You are welcome to try if you _see_ one.” Akashi didn’t miss a single beat there. “Anyway, we are going to split up, to spread incoming damage. Ryouta you stick with Atsushi. The rest split up as fit.”

“Why don’t we just take the scenic route?” Daiki muttered under his breath. Tetsu’s jab to his side was only halfhearted.

“What should I do?” Kagami asked; just as Daiki was about to head off into one of the many alleyways around them.

“Don’t get killed?” Daiki offered and this time, Tetsu didn’t pull his punch.

“You can go with Aomine-kun. I will cover your retreat.” Tetsu gave Daiki a very disapproving scowl.

“Tetsu-“ Daiki started to object, but his friend had already disappeared. The rest of his team had also already scattered and this was just so much like Akashi, Daiki felt the very strong urge to express his anger by kicking stuff. Preferably Akashi. Because of course the world was going to fold itself to convenience Mr. Emperor Eye.

“You are the best suited for this job.” Tetsu’s voice floated in from god knows where, and since it was Tetsu, there was no use arguing the point. (Daiki might have been the tiniest amount of flattered, but that had _nothing_ to do with his acquiescence.)

“Just come.” Daiki grumbled and waved Kagami to follow him into the relative safety of one of the alleyways. He couldn’t honestly say splitting up was a good idea, but Akashi usually knew what he was doing. That didn’t mean Daiki had to like his plans.

“How do I use this?” Kagami hissed once they were seeking cover against a dirty alley wall. He held up Tetsu’s laser pistol and even in the darkness Daiki could make out the frown formed by his impressive eyebrows. He really wanted to try and touch those eyebrows. There were fucking four of them. _Seriously, who had four eyebrows?_

Daiki did not roll his eyes, but he did let out a very exasperated sigh. He really did not have the patience to play babysitter to a civilian during any sort of mission. Kagami _was_ cute, he definitely was, but his godchild was cute and she was the devil incarnate. And he’d rather not be saddled with her, during any kind of mission.

Kagami’s frown deepened. “Look, just show me how to use this and I promise I won’t be a burden.” Daiki sighed inwardly. He wasn’t being fair, but sometimes he just couldn’t deal with Akashi’s bullshit. As their leader he should have made it his responsibility to guarantee their target’s safety. Well, there was nothing Daiki could do about it now.

“Okay here, see that little switch here?” He took the pistol from Kagami’s hand and pointed to the switch in question. “That’s your safety lock. Safety off.” He flipped the switch. “Safety on.” He switched it back. “The laser is self charging so you don’t need to reload. Shoot it like any other gun.” Daiki held it up and aimed, pulling on the trigger to demonstrate how the safety worked. “It doesn’t have a backlash, but the handle can get kinda hot when you shoot it for too long.”

Daiki handed it back. Kagami weighed the pistol in his hand for a moment, before looking up with a startling amount of sincerity in his eyes. “Thanks.” Daiki was glad his skin was dark enough to hide the faint blush that spread on his cheeks.

“Okay, right.” Daiki cleared his throat. This really wasn’t the right moment. “Stay behind me, and, uh…” _Fucking invisible aliens man._ Daiki pulled out the grappling hook from his suit, arresting the cable after a good two meters. “Take this. Hook it to somewhere on your clothes.”

“Uhh…” Kagami frowned down at the hook in his hands. “Are you putting me on a leash?”

Daiki groaned. “No! Yes.” He sighed. “It’s a safety measurement, cos the bastards are invisible this time. I can’t keep a constant eye on you so we need a means to make sure they don’t just snatch you while I’m not looking. You should probably loop it through your suitcase handle too, just to be safe.”

“That’s…” Kagami looked down and _was that a fucking smile?_ “That’s a really good idea.” Kagami’s voice was way too soft and Daiki looked away, just so he didn’t have to see it. “Thanks Aomine.”

“Don’t mention it.” He grumbled and really, _really_ meant it. Kagami was just too weird.

“Come on, let’s go.” Daiki tested the pull of the cable, satisfied that it wouldn’t come loose easily.

The area was quiet, had been way too quiet the whole time, but he figured it was just another one of those residential areas, abandoned after too much alien activity. Well, one less thing he had to worry about.

They covered about half the distance to their rendezvous point without a hitch and Daiki was about to praise his unusual luck, when there was a sudden tug on the cable, followed by Kagami’s quiet curse.

Daiki turned around, expecting Kagami having stumbled or something, annoyed question already on his lips, when he saw the thick projectile head of a halo dart stick from Kagami’s leg.

“Shit.” He cursed; he hadn’t even noticed the drone hanging quietly in the air above them, now rapidly blinking as it ran the hijacking sequence. Daiki grabbed the projectile and ripped it out; ignoring Kagami’s pained protests, before yanking Kagami with him into the relative safety of a garbage container.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck. FUCK._

A god damn halo dart, of fucking course.

He shot down the drone a soon as they hit cover, but now there was the thumping sound of giant robotic legs nearing from a distance and that was just Daiki’s shitty luck, wasn’t it?

Daiki hit his com button. “Tetsu,” He yelled. It was too late for subtlety, now that they had been target locked by the drone. “We’ve got a Sectopod incoming. Do you copy?”

“I do,” was the calm reply. “I have it in sight.”

 _Thank fucking god._ Sectopods were fucking nightmares, massive bipedal robots with the fire power of a small army. It would have been catastrophic, had it been invisible too. He’d been lucky that the drone was visible too; it could have taken him too long to shoot it down. Even now, they still weren’t out of the clear regarding Kagami’s injection.

“You need to take it out for us; Kagami has been hit by a halo dart.”

“That’s bad.”

“You don’t say.” It came out sharper than intended, but Daiki’s patience was running rather thin right now.

“What the hell is a halo dart?” Kagami hissed; prodding carefully at the area the thing had hit him in. Daiki checked, but couldn’t make out in the darkness if the area had been contaminated already. The wound at least, looked a fucking mess, no small thanks to him violently ripping the dart out.

“They’re the worst fucking thing you can imagine.”

The thumping drew closer, and Daiki would like to move to a safer position, preferably yesterday, but the sudden fear and paleness on Kagami’s face kept him rooted.

“Am I going to die?” Kagami’s eyes were panicked, and fuck; he so did not need that right now.

“No you won’t” Aomine said gruffly. “Tetsu.” He barked into his com link, more forceful than necessary, but time _was_ running out.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Tetsu said, as unflappable as ever. But then, he was the one sitting snug in a secure location.

“Where are the others?” Daiki was too busy measuring the distance between the sectopod and the corner that divided them to check for himself.

“Out of range.”

Light creeped in around the corner behind them and Daiki cursed for the umpteenth time.

“Shit, let’s go.” He said and grabbed Kagami’s hand. “Can you walk?”

Kagami seemed a bit dazed; he blinked at their joined hands before finally giving him the affirmative. Daiki didn’t have the time to dwell on it.

Tetsu saying “careful,” was the only warning they got, before Daiki’s instincts told him to dodge, and so he did, pulling Kagami with him. The wall behind them exploded in a flash of green light.

“Fucking fuck.” Daiki pulled Kagami forward and towards the next corner, away from the monstrous bulk of metal that came round the corner behind them. Green light sizzled through the air, but this time it seemed to be Tetsu’s as the sectopod responded in angry mechanical screeching. There was an angry clicking sound and then a drone shot past them without a sound and Daiki didn’t even break pace to shoot it down.

A sectopod’s visuals were limited, so they vastly relied on drones, for long range combat, but that didn’t mean they were any less deadly without their drones.

Kagami stumbled and almost dragged Daiki down with him, just before they reached the safety of the next corner. Daiki pulled him forward on will force alone, landing hard on his elbow in the process. The pain, thankfully, was dimmed by his body armor, but it still hurt quite badly.

“My leg.” Kagami groaned, fingers clenching around his calf, where Daiki could now see the thick protruding of inflated veins. _Shit_.

Daiki checked around the corner, making sure the sectopod was still a distance away. He could do this. He had to do this.

“Okay, listen.” He gripped Kagami’s hand tighter to get his attention. “You’ll be fine, I promise. We just need to take care of that damn thing over there and then I’ll get you somewhere safe. Okay?”

Kagami’s eyes were wide, but he seemed to drink every word Aomine was saying from his lips.

“Promise?” He said weakly. Daiki had been through some shit, but the open vulnerability on Kagami’s face almost did him in then and there.

He swallowed. “Promise.”

It didn’t even occur to him that he could just abandon Kagami and take the suitcase.

Another burst of green light ignited the night air, followed by a metallic screech and then mercifully, the sectopod stuttered to a halt.

“I’ve disabled its propulsion unit, but the weapons are still functional, be careful.” Tetsu informed them over the com link. That was probably as much as he could do from a distance. Sectopods were tough nuts to crack.

Daiki wished he hadn’t used up his and Kise’s grenades already, but there was no helping it now. He turned to face the sectopod, but Kagami’s grip refused to let go of his hand. He was breathing hard, on the brink of panic and that wasn’t good at all.

“Calm down.” Daiki implored. “Just focus on breathing for now, okay? I’ll be done in a second. It’ll be alright, I promise.”

Kagami nodded and released his tight grip. Daiki made sure he was calming down, before he focused his attention back on his target.

The sectopod’s large armored head was moving frantically in an attempt to localize them. The visual sensors also seemed to be damaged, thank fuck for Tetsu and his mad skills with a sniper rifle.

Daiki pushed in the safety switch, without arresting it, a little glitch in the system he’d discovered on accident and that resulted in a very awkward attempt at explaining how he destroyed the reinforced target dummy that was supposedly _indestructible_. Messing with guns was an absolute no go, so Daiki had had to make something up. He still wasn’t allowed back in the shooting range, but well.

He pulled the trigger. The safety switch had closed off the gun barrel, but the cartridges still expelled their gas contents into the plasma chamber, building up an intense pressure. Daiki took aim with the shaking weapon in his hands - no small feat - and released the safety switch. Pure concentrated plasma shot from the barrel, the force of it propelling Daiki backwards. It hit the sectopod full center, blasting a hole right through its armored hull.

The rifle was a smoking mess on the ground, so were his gloves that had burned right through when the gun discharged. His hands were sore but still usable, so that was that. He only hoped they wouldn’t encounter any more of the large alien variety. Facing off against a sectopod with a pistol sucked.

“Your immediate area is clear.” Tetsu informed him over the com link and suddenly Daiki realized that they’d been in contact the whole time. Tetsu must have heard the whole sappy exchange from earlier. _Well, shit._

“Tetsu-”Daiki started, because he _had_ to justify himself, somehow - anyhow.

Tetsu cut him off, before he could get another word in edgewise: “You should contact Akashi-kun.”

Daiki cleared his throat. Fucking Akashi, man. “Yeah, right.”

Tetsu didn’t respond and the connection fizzled out with a quiet sound.

Daiki sat there for a heartbeat longer, before he remembered that he had way more important things to take care of. “Come on.” He said to Kagami whose face was pale and streaked with sweat, but his breathing was thankfully even.

Kagami couldn’t walk on his own, his legs unsteady under him, so Daiki hefted one of his arms over his shoulder and hoped they wouldn’t run into any trouble on the way. His com sleeve extension beeped and the coordinates of a small secluded building popped up. Undoubtedly Tetsu’s doing.

While they were hobbling through the relative darkness of abandoned urban space, Daiki decided now was as good as any time to contact Akashi.

“If your plan was to have my ass kicked in particular, congratulations you’ve almost done it. We’ve got a sectopod on our asses and Kagami’s been hit by a halo dart.”

“I see. That is unfortunate.”

Daiki rolled his eyes. “Cut the crap Akashi. We took care of the pod, but you can’t tell me you hadn’t calculated something like this.”

“Indeed. You provided the perfect distraction. You have bought us enough time to run some tests and upgrade our sensors. I’ll have Central send the update to you.”

Daiki scraped a hand over his face. One of these days he was going to kill Akashi. Of course they had been a fucking decoy. He should have known better than to think Akashi would let the chance of capturing any of these new aliens slip through his fingers.

“That’s all nice and well, but I still got a halo infection on my hands.”

There was a short pause and for a terrifying moment Daiki thought Akashi was going to tell him he should just abandon Kagami.

“You know how to perform an extraction, do you?”

“Shit. I knew you were gonna say that.”

“I can have Tetsuya do it.”

“No.” Daiki sighed. “I’ll do it.”

“Good.” He was fairly sure he heard smugness from Akashi’s voice. “Atsushi has succeeded in knocking one of the new specimens out, but we believe there is still alien activity in this area. We will take care of it and then regroup at your position. Tetsuya will have an eye out for you.”

Daiki groaned. “This was all part of your plan, wasn’t it?”

“Of course. Now go.” The com link connection died with a crackle and Daiki was very much tempted to throw the whole thing on the ground. Instead, his sleeve extension alerted him to a system’s upgrade with a small sequence of beeps.

“What’s an extraction? And what does this thing _do_?” Kagami wheezed. He hung heavily in Daiki’s arms, unable to support his own weight. Daiki was grateful for the slight strength enhancement his body armor provided.

“It’s, ah, you won’t like it.”

“You mean, compared to already?” Kagami’s attempt at wit fell rather flat on his wheezing breath and the slightly delirious sheen in his eyes. Shit, Daiki had to hurry.

They finally reached the building Tetsu had indicated and Daiki couldn’t help but be impressed. It was small and fairly hidden. Hard to find, but that was exactly why he’d picked it. Daiki didn’t bother long and simply broke in through one of the ground level windows. Carrying Kagami inside was rather difficult, but he managed eventually. He untangled the grappling hook from Kagami’s belt and put the suitcase aside for later.

“Okay, now listen very closely.” Daiki had shoved Kagami down on a nearby couch and was now kneeling in front of him. Kagami perked up, but his attention was unfocused. Daiki snapped his fingers in front of his face, until Kagami’s eyes sharpened on him.

“What’s happening right now is that the reactive agent the dart injected into you is spreading through your body. You were lucky enough that the drone couldn’t complete the hijacking sequence or else you would be a zombie by now.”

Kagami’s eyes widened and his breath was picking up again. He tried to sit up from his lying position, frantic and Daiki reacted without thinking. He leaned forward and kissed him. It was little more than the press of lips against lips. Kagami froze; eyes impossibly wide and then he blinked, once twice, before he finally let a small sound escape his lips.

Daiki pulled back, watching Kagami’s reaction. He seemed to have calmed down from his impeding panic attack, looking at Daiki with a surprised expression. There was the faintest of blushes on his cheek, standing out against the otherwise pale complexion.

_Good, distraction is good._

Daiki decided not to think too deeply about what he had just done or why. “It’s going to be alright, okay?”

Kagami just nodded, eyes still wide and lips slightly parted, as though he was chasing after Daiki’s kiss. Daiki had to swallow down the urge to kiss him again.

“Right, so. The agent’s still at work in your body, trying to rewrite your hormonal network among other things, but without the drone it’s slow going. I’m going to have to extract the stuff from your body. It will hurt like fuck and you’ll probably want to kill me right after, but I promise it’s for the best.”

Kagami swallowed thickly, but nodded.

Daiki pulled off his gloves, picked off the burnt parts and rolled the rest into a compact flat shape. “You, uh, you probably wanna bite on this. We don’t want to attract any unwanted attention.”

Kagami was looking deathly pale again, but he took the piece of cloth regardless. He paused, just before he was going to put it in his mouth. “Aomine?”

Daiki had been busy pulling off his body armor, as it would only be in the way. He retrieved the tiny scalpel and tracheotomy tube every team member was required to carry after they had lost a whole team to a surprise seeker attack. He paused at Kagami’s hesitant tone.

“Yeah?” Daiki’s voice was oddly thick.

“Thank you.”

Daiki swallowed. “It’s okay.”

Kagami put the mouthpiece in, before leaning down on the couch.

Daiki cut away Kagami’s pant leg, revealing the whole mess of corrupted flesh. The veins directly around the wound were inflated, standing out in a sick bluish color against the surrounding skin. The wound itself was an ugly gash, no small thanks to Daiki brutishly removing the dart earlier. The skin itself was flushed hot, pulsing under Daiki’s careful touch.

Kagami groaned in pain, his leg twitching as though he was going to pull it away. He fisted a hand in the couch cushions in an effort to lay still.

“I’m going to have to cut open the wound and insert the tube to get the agent out. It’s going to hurt, but you need to stay still. Can you do that?”

Kagami nodded once, sweat already beading on his forehead, but he lifted his hand once to rest on Daiki’s, just a weak squeeze but it told Daiki everything he needed to know.

Daiki pulled the scalpel out of its sterile packaging, wasting no more time before he made the incision. Circumstances were shitty as it was, he could live without the addition of an infection. Kagami groaned again, but kept his leg still.

This was going to get ugly. Daiki carefully inserted the tube into the wound, and took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing._ Daiki closed his lips around the tube end sucked. Kagami convulsed, a muffled sound of pain escaping as he bit down hard on his gag. He did keep his leg still however.

A bitter acidic taste filled Daiki’s mouth and he almost threw up on it. Daiki pulled back and spit it out, before closing his lips back around the tube. It took a long time before Daiki could see the first hints he was actually making progress. And it took even longer for the effect to be substantial. Daiki’s jaw ached and the inside of his mouth felt like someone had scraped it off with a grater, but just one look at the pain lines on Kagami’s face kept him going. He had to be in immeasurable pain, yet he was trying his damnest to endure.

Finally, the last of the inflation had disappeared. Daiki kept sucking until all he could taste was the coppery tang of blood. Kagami was breathing hard, eyes closed and his hands were fisted so tightly into the cushions the knuckles stood out white.

Daiki pulled out the tube and carefully examined the surrounding skin. It was still hot to the touch and was slightly reddened, but the worst seemed to be the gaping wound now. A bit of blood welled up, but he wasn’t in any danger of bleeding to death soon.

“You did it.” Daiki sat back with a groan and allowed himself a tiny moment to breathe.

At first Kagami didn’t respond, but then he sluggishly blinked his eyes open and smiled weakly at Daiki. Daiki, for all his exhaustion and the gross feeling in his mouth, felt his heart do an odd little flip.

“Hold on a second.” Daiki said, mostly because he didn’t trust himself right now. He pulled out a bottle from his pack and used it to rinse out his mouth. “Want some?” He held out the bottle to Kagami who gratefully accepted.

“I’ll have to wrap up your leg, but it shouldn’t hurt as much now.”

Kagami nodded. “How’d you know how to do that?” He gestured to the discarded tube, water bottle still in hand.

Daiki had no medikit on hand, and he didn’t know when the others would arrive, but each soldier was required to carry some bandages and tape on them for emergencies.

“I…” Daiki scratched his head. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Kagami settled back against the couch, exhaustion evident on his face. “I’ve got nowhere else to be.” He said and somehow Daiki found it hard to resist that smile, tired and weak as it was.

“How about, you tell me your story, I’ll tell you mine?”

Daiki grinned. He wasn’t going to tell Kagami that he had already convinced him. “Deal.” He set to wrapping up Kagami’s leg, while thinking back on the time when he’d gotten himself into the deepest shit in his life. “I’ve not always been a member of XCOM.”

Kagami snorted.

“What?”

Kagami was now trying to hide a smile. Daiki’s annoyance evaporated at the sight of that smile. He found he would do a lot to see Kagami smile again.

“Well, don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t strike me as the soldier type.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Daiki frowned, but couldn’t really stay mad under the soft look that hid under Kagami’s playful smirk.

“You got that look of someone who walked the shady side of the line. Besides, you don’t have the stomach to take orders, do you?”

“I’ll have you know I’m a Lieutenant.” Daiki poked a finger against Kagami’s thigh.

“Sure you are. But I thought you were going to tell me a story?”

“Oh can it. You were the one who interrupted.” Daiki said affectionately. He put on tape to keep the bandage in place and before he could think to hard about it, pecked a quick kiss to Kagami’s knee. Kagami might have had the faintest of blushes on his face but he smiled when Daiki settled his back against the side of the couch and rested his head against Kagami’s knee.

“So as Mr. Triad has already deduced so masterfully, I was part of a gang once long ago. Well, not so long ago actually, but ever since the invasion started time’s just been flying. It seems like forever, when it has been, what? Two years?

“Anyway, I was in a gang and we were riding the high tide ever since the first alien popped up, you know scavenging crashed ships, selling parts, the like.” Kagami nodded as though he knew exactly what Daiki was talking about. Well, he probably did.

“And then, like one and a half year ago, we got our hands on some intel, about an XCOM mission to bring down this special ship that held super valuable cargo. We didn’t know what it was, but if XCOM was after it, it must be hot, so we thought we’d get our hands in on it.” Daiki grimaced as he thought back on his own stupidity.

“Needless to say it went down South, badly. The XCOM had it mostly covered, but our presence fucked things up royally, gave the aliens the distraction they needed.” Daiki paused to collect himself. They had been a gang of criminals, a mash up of people from all walks of life and there was only so much loyalty between them, but they had been a team, as mismatched as it was.

Kagami reached out to pat his shoulder. He didn’t say anything, but kept offering silent comfort.

“They killed almost all of my gang and the XCOM team. They would have killed me too, hadn’t it been for Akashi.”

“Akashi?” Kagami interrupted. “Wait, isn’t that your leader?”

“Yeah, he is. He wasn’t a team leader back then, but he’d already distinguished himself or something. Well, I didn’t have a hard time believing he was special when I saw him back then. He would have gotten his team out alive, hadn’t we showed up and fucked everything up.” Daiki shook his head.

“He got _me_ out though, although he didn’t have to. But this sectopod showed up, just before we made it. It injured Akashi, who had been covering for me. He took it out somehow but got injected with a halo dart in the process. The ship had crash landed during the mission, so we were stuck in the middle of nowhere until backup arrived. The aliens were all dead after the crash, but Akashi still had the halo agent in his body. I had to extract the agent from Akashi’s wound. He was bleeding from a nasty shoulder wound and yet he was walking me through it, step by step. And that time I had to use a hollow metal rod we’d filched from one of the alien machines.”

There was bit of silence between them, Daiki ruminating on his story, while Kagami just kept rubbing his shoulder comfortingly.

“So, what happened then? Don’t tell me you just got a blank card from that?” Kagami’s hand stilled, but he didn’t remove it.

“Of course not. Akashi got me out, but would have sent me right into prison as soon as we touched ground.”

“So why didn’t he?”

“Tetsu.” Daiki said with a rueful smile.

“Tetsu? Wait, that’s the sniper, right?”

“Yeah. He and I were best buddies in middle school. Then we lost contact after we’d entered high school. I didn’t know what he had been up to. I thought I was hallucinating when I ran into him at the XCOM headquarter. We hadn’t parted under the best of conditions to say the least, but he came through for me regardless. I don’t know what he did, but he convinced Akashi, and the brass at XCOM to let me go charge free. Well, I had to join XCOM as a condition and I got put on Akashi’s team so he could have an eye out on me.”

“That’s… quite the story.”

“You don’t say.” Daiki chuckled quietly. “Now’s your turn, honey.”

“Don’t call me that.” Kagami complained and smacked his shoulder.

“Okay, Tiger.”

Kagami let out a very disgruntled noise. “Then I will call you… Wait, I don’t even know your first name.”

Daiki grinned and tilted his head back to look at Kagami. “That’s something you gotta earn.” He topped it off with a seductive eye waggle. He’d meant it as a joke mostly, but Kagami surprised him by leaning over and kissing him. It was soft and lingering and Daiki found himself melting into it.

“Good enough?” Kagami asked, voice soft and a bit on the hoarse side.

Daiki lifted a hand to run through Kagami’s hair, letting it linger for just a moment on the side of his face. “Daiki.” He said softly and Kagami leaned down to kiss him again.

“Why don’t you come up here, there’s plenty of space.” Kagami murmured, eyes slightly hooded.

“Oh? I safe your life and you’re already down to indecent proposals?”

Kagami’s blush was furious. “Shut up, I’m not doing anything. It’s just cold in here, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh.” Daiki smirked but got up anyway to sidle up next to Kagami. He shifted them both until Kagami, who was just about his height, was resting with his back against Daiki’s chest. He had to admit, he had an ulterior motive in taking this position, but for now he was content in mouthing at the nape of Kagami’s neck.

“Wasn’t there a story you wanted to tell me?”

“You’re impossible.” Kagami groaned.

“I get that a lot.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Daiki was certain he heard an edge of fondness in Kagami’s voice. He snuggled closer. “Right, right, I’ll get to it. So yeah, there isn’t much to say actually. I was born in Japan, but grew up in the States, since my father was American. I wasn’t exactly a good kid. I skipped school, hung around with all the delinquents and got into a shit ton of trouble. I joined a gang of thugs when I grew older. We weren’t real criminals, mostly tying to make ourselves a name, but that’s usually how it starts, isn’t it.

“I met this guy then, Chinese. He and I, we, uh, we kind of had a thing going, I was pretty much struck in love with him. It turned out he was the son of some big shot Triad boss sent overseas for education. I didn’t know that back then. He got me and my gang into some pretty lucrative jobs, drug business and the likes. We all thought it was cool and that we soon would be the big shots around there. But were actually just building up our criminal records and a dead end future. One of our gigs blew up on us one day and we got all arrested.” Kagami sighed. Daiki gently massaged his shoulders, giving back the encouragement he had received earlier.

“It was a mess. Cheng, the Triad guy, got out on his father’s name, and my father pulled some strings too. The rest didn’t get as lucky. My old man made me join the army then, as punishment and to get me in line. That’s where I got my training. Well, it didn’t really turn out that well. They found out I was gay and I was discharged from service. My father didn’t want anything to do with me at that point so I was all on my own. That’s when Cheng contacted me and asked me to join his father’s organization. He was going to take over soon and he wanted a trustworthy man at his side.

“I thought it was going to be like it used to, so I agreed. But it turned out he just wanted me for my skills. I tried talking to him once, but he told me flat out that I had just been a fling. He had been curious and I was cute, but he wasn’t gay and wasn’t going to risk his position for me.

“It was… it wasn’t bad, I was respected and had a solid position, but it wasn’t really my thing. There was some backlash that I was Japanese-American, but it was minor. I had hated military service, but I’ve also learned a lot there. It gave me a purpose, you know, a _real_ purpose. Something that wasn’t extorting money from innocent people and living off the hard work of others. But there was no way for me out, so I stayed. Until we got our hands on the artifact. I thought if anything could be my ticket out, it would be that. So I took it.”

Daiki hummed. “So what’s up with that artifact?”

“Dunno. It’s supposedly some kind of communicator, but Cheng wanted to sell it as soon as possible. Alien tech is the most valuable thing right now, but also the most dangerous.”

Daiki hummed.”Wanna take a look at it?”

“Not really.” Kagami pulled him back, as he was about to get up and get the case. “This thing put me through enough trouble. If I could get my hands off it now, it wouldn’t be one second too soon.”

“Yeah.” Daiki wrapped his hands around Kagami’s chest and pulled him closer. “How’s the leg?”

Kagami moved it carefully. “Good, it stopped hurting a while ago. Don’t know what you did, but it worked.”

“Uh, I didn’t do anything. I wrapped it up and that’s it.” Daiki smirked, nosing the nape of Kagami’s neck. “Maybe it was the kiss?” Even in the relative darkness, Kagami’s red ears stood out starkly.

“Shut up.” He muttered, but tilted his head anyway to give Daiki better access to his neck.

“We should test that out.” Daiki murmured. “You know, just to be sure.” He ran his hand up Kagami’s chest, under his shirt and over a nipple. Kagami let out a soft moan, little more than a gasp, but it sent shivers of warmth down Daiki’s spine.

“What? You going to heal me all by yourself?” Kagami tilted his head to look at Daiki.

“I can try.” Daiki licked a wet stripe down Kagami’s neck, right behind his earlobe. Kagami shivered and pressed back against Daiki with his whole body.

“I think I have a bad sore in my mouth. You need to check it out.”

“Oh, do I?”

“Yeah,” Kagami whispered, “it’s bad.”

“I see what I can do.” Daiki gently hooked his thumb under Kagami’s chin and tilted his head back so he could kiss him. He pressed his lips to the side of Kagami’s mouth, softly at first, but the closer he got to the center of Kagami’s lips, the more insistent he got. Kagami sighed against him, pliant. His mouth fell open and Daiki took the invitation eagerly.

Kagami tasted heavenly, like spices and the warm trickle of sunlight on his skin. Daiki could spend years tasting him, just feeling the supple movements of their tongues together.

They were unceremoniously interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Kagami startled so badly he almost shoved Daiki from the couch. Daiki clung on and reached for his gun at the same time, only then remembering that he’d taken it off along with his armor.

“I’d like to pretend I have never seen this.” Midorima’s face was pinched and he refused to look anywhere near them. Daiki could swear he heard him mutter something about being seriously underpaid under his breath.

_You and me both._

“Well, I suppose this was to be expected.” Akashi said with a dismissive shrug. Kise was torn between gaping and grinning, while Murasakibara ignored the world at large in favor of a snack.

“Oh, my god.” Kagami groaned and tried to hide behind Daiki, who wasn’t exactly sure, if he should be embarrassed or mad. He settled on being relieved that they could finally get out of this hellhole.

“I hope Aomine-kun didn’t molest you Kagami-kun.” Kagami who’d just calmed down from his first shock, startled again as Tetsu popped up next to him.

Daiki would have commented, but it was kind of cute how Kagami clung to him in his attempt to calm down again.

“The area is cleared and I presume everything did go well at your end?” Akashi appraised him with a raised eyebrow. “Tetsuya assured me, you would be fine, but next time Daiki, do please radio in your status. I think this was covered in your training, was it not?”

“I had more important things to take care of.” Daiki smirked and waggled his eyebrows, because Akashi had saved his ass, but he was also the biggest asshole he’d ever met in his life and he couldn’t just pass up an opportunity to mess with him.

Tetsu promptly reprimanded him with a jab to his ribs. “I was worried.” He said quietly and Daiki mellowed immediately.

“Sorry.” He said with a soft grin.

“Can we go now? I’m out of snacks.” Murasakibara complained, tossing away the wrap of his last piece of candy.

“The artifact?” Akashi asked. Daiki pointed to the suitcase. “You didn’t open it?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Daiki grumbled, but caught Kagami’s raised eyebrow. He allowed a small secret smile to pass between them. Kagami seemed to have recovered mostly, but he accepted Kise’s help regardless in getting up.

Before he could complain, Tetsu shoved his armor into his hands with a telling look to get back into his gear.

“Shintarou you take the case. We have cleared the area, but Atsushi and I will have an eye out, regardless. Let’s go.”

“So, Kagamicchi, how did you end up as part of the Triads?” Kise asked, excitedly, completely ignorant of their surroundings, as per usual. Kagami had to regret it by now that he had accepted Kise’s support for walking.

“Found something good?” Tetsuya asked him later, when they were making their way down the street to an open space where the skyranger awaited them with glaring headlights. A slimy looking alien was secured in the portable stasis tank.

Technically, Daiki had no fucking idea what they were going to do from here on out. Kagami was just a stray they picked up from the street, precious cargo notwithstanding. But Daiki didn’t care about the technical details; he was going to make sure that Kagami would stay around. One way or another.

There was no way in hell, he was ever going to let go of this.

Tetsu of course had known that long before Daiki. The fucker.

“Yeah.” Daiki said with a smile. He ignored Tetsu’s way too smug and knowing smile in favor of watching Kagami in the incandescent light o the skyranger’s spotlights. His eyes shone a brilliant red; a far cry from Akashi’s creepy as fuck scarlet red eyes. Daiki wasn’t the kind to wax poetry, but even he had to admit that right now, he felt more at peace than he ever had before.

**Author's Note:**

> * Seeker: The Seeker is a flying squid-like robotic unit that strangles its target.  
> * Arc Thrower: The Arc Thrower is an item that allows soldiers to stun and capture certain aliens.


End file.
